'Flipping the Déjà Vu?'

By Brian Bailey
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

These five days may turn out to define the 2015 East Carolina football season.

Part one was a success. ECU beat Tulsa 30-17 for the Pirate’s 10th straight homecoming victory. It certainly wasn’t a masterpiece, but last I checked you don’t get bonus points for shutouts or blowouts.

Pirate head coach Ruffin McNeill put an exclamation point on the victory.

“Saturday was a great, great win! I said it after the game and I say it again now,” said McNeill to open his weekly press briefing on Monday. “I’ve been coaching a long time and, for me, it was one of the best wins I’ve had as a head coach, period. You saw the kids, as a team, compete, fight and scrap with no panic.”

It was certainly a game with an odd flow. Everyone expected an old fashioned shootout. Tulsa came to town with the nation’s 7th-ranked offense.

It was the ECU defense that set the tone and they did it on Tulsa’s first drive.

Josh Hawkins stepped in front of Dane Evans pass at the goal line and raced 100 yards for the game’s opening score. On Monday Hawkins was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Hawkins has certainly had his ups and downs at East Carolina. Saturday’s ‘pick-six’ was definitely an up and he was all smiles after the win.

“I read the play and was right there,” said Hawkins. “I then went back into ‘running back’ mode like in high school. My teammates gave me some great blocks and I just took it home to Mama.”

Now the Pirates face the shortest of weeks with nationally-ranked Temple coming to town on Thursday. The Owls are one of three teams in the American in this week’s national rankings.

The game with Temple gives the Pirates a great chance to avenge 2014’s most disappointing loss, that humbling loss in the cold and rain of Philly last November.

ECU Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations Tom McClellan called it ‘Flipping the Déjà Vu?’ in the weekly ECU game notes. The game is almost a direct opposite from the matchup last season.

In 2014 the Pirates were 6-1 and ranked 21st and 23rd in the national polls. Temple came into that game at 4-3. The Owls upset the Pirates 20-10, forcing five turnovers and racking up 11 tackles for losses.

Fast-forward to 2015. Temple is 6-0 and ranked 22nd and 24th in the national polls. The Pirates are 4-3. Oddly enough, East Carolina is an early three-point favorite in the game.

Regardless of the similarities in the matchups, Coach Ruff says he’ll keep his team focused on the ‘next game philosophy.’

“They beat us last year,” said McNeill. “It wasn’t luck. They did a good job. I talk about getting better. Let’s play our best game our next game, but play our best game our last game of the year. Temple has a great team and proposes a great opportunity, but a challenge for us. I talk more about preparation. That’s how I’m built and that’s what I believe in.”

The Pirate defense may once again be the key. This time that defense will have to stop the run first.

If they do that, ECU can unleash Montese Overton and his buddies. That unit has collected 16 sacks in the last three games. That stat comes after the Pirates had just five sacks in the team’s first four games.

“That’s always two of the big keys,” said ECU Defensive Coordinator Rick Smith. “We have to first stop the run, and then we have to get pressure on the quarterback. No secondary can withstand these offenses if the quarterback has all day. Our guys are playing well and have to continue to do that.”

Hopefully the Pirate Nation will come out in force.

It’s a blackout game, as the Pirates look to turn the lights out on Temple’s unbeaten season.

BB

E-mail Brian Bailey